A content creation company called nDash is seeking to set itself apart from competitors by encouraging its stable of freelance writers to pitch to an entire industry rather than individual B2B brands on its platform.

Based in Boston, nDash works much like Contently, Skyword and other startups in the content marketing space by helping brands source and manage the content they need including blog posts, white papers, research reports and myriad other assets. In many cases, these services tend to create virtual teams of freelance writers for a particular client, who then assign work or consider pitches that align with their marketing goals or themes of interest.

Earlier this month, however, nDash said it was opening up “industry pitches,” whereby a content creator could propose an idea related to the finance industry, for instance. Then, any of nDash’s clients working in that sector could approve the idea and pay the writer accordingly.

“We always envisioned being not just another content platform but more of a marketplace of ideas,” Michael Brown, nDash’s founder and CEO, told B2B News Network (Disclosure: I wrote a guide for nDash last year on what brands should pay writers for various assets, and I have a profile on its platform but have not worked with the service or its clients since.) “We wanted to give our community a way to create value proactively.”

Technically there’s nothing stopping a brand from stealing an industry pitch and having it written in-house or giving it to another writer, Brown admitted. In most cases, though, he said idea generation is a major pain point for marketers, and they appreciate content creators who can come up with something original and timely. nDash also encourages the creators on its platform to be as specialized as possible so that if they come up with an idea, it’s not something a brand would necessarily be able to execute as well on its own.

“There’s a lot of auto-content generators — you type in a keyword and it comes out with a hunch of titles,” he said. “We wanted to act as an alternative.”

The other nDash differentiator, according to Brown, is bringing quality to the “middle tier” of the content marketing space.

“I think there’s a class of companies that are very high-priced, or require a big commitment on the brand side,” he said. “A B2B tech startup in their series A or series B round of funding — they don’t need a lot of hand-holding in terms of service but at the same time, they’e looking for quality writers.”

While content creators can pitch to any industry, Brown said there’s considerable demand in sectors such as finance, technology, marketing, manufacturing and even security within the tech space.

Shane Schick

Shane Schick is the Editor-in-Chief of B2B News Network. He is the former Editor-in-Chief of Marketing magazine and has also been Vice-President, Content & Community (Editor-in-Chief), at IT World Canada, a technology columnist with the Globe and Mail and was the founding editor of ITBusiness.ca.
Shane has been recognized for journalistic excellence by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance and the Canadian Online Publishing Awards.